The Calm Before 2014's Tech Storm: Apple Will Bring the Rain

There's a lot on Apple's plate that should make for big, wild 2014 that will settle the innovation question. The iPhone will get a bigger screen, possibly made of sapphire glass. The iWatch likely will hit, possibly overrunning the competition in the category. OS X will be due for a refresh, as will the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and the iPad. And Apple TV may finally come into its own.

By Chris Maxcer
05/01/14 12:42 PM PT

There's a lot shaping up for Apple this year, and it's going to be
wild. In fact, there's so much going on at Infinite Loop in Cupertino
these days that it makes me believe that 2014 will be the first
post-Steve Jobs year when Apple -- in the eyes of the broader tech world --
stops dancing around and finally brings the rain.

For starters, the profit-generating juggernaut that goes by the name
of "iPhone" will ship in a new form factor with a bigger screen. This
will hit just when a huge number of Apple-loving consumers
are shifting the bulk of their Internet activity to their mobile
device, which means they'll upgrade in droves.

Apple doesn't even have
to entice big-screen Android users to make iPhone 6 the fastest and
best-selling mobile device ever.

Apple
can pump up iPhone sales in the U.S. next year by 30 percent with a bigger iPhone, suggested Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty, and this is if 80 percent of iPhones sold go to upgrading customers.

It gets better. The sapphire glass manufacturer in Arizona
appears
to be shipping product to China, which means the displays of the
big new iPhone 6 really could be made of sapphire glass. If
sapphire is as scratch-resistant as they say -- better than Gorilla
Glass -- this is a big leap forward over the competition. Huge, in
fact.

This is important for a couple of key reasons: First, Apple
invested heavily in GT Advanced Technologies, reportedly footing the
bill for hundreds of sapphire furnaces capable of churning out
screens. Second, Apple has snapped up sapphire glass supplies. Unless
the competition is actively investing in sapphire production, Apple
might build a significant lead. Either way, you can bet that we'll be
seeing some sort of cool promotional video at iPhone 6 launch time.

So the Apple Money Machine -- the iPhone -- will rev up to the red
line this year and coast through 2015 ... that's it?

No way.

Enter the iWatch

While everyone has been talking up the mythical iWatch as
competitors deliver new smartwatches and exercise bands, Apple has
remained behind closed doors. Instead of getting here first, Apple has
quietly been hiring medical, exercise and engineering talent, as well
as patenting potential innovations that could be applied to an iWatch.

Will Apple actually deliver a wrist-worn device this year? It's hard
to imagine that it will sit out 2014. Apple CEO Tim Cook has hinted
at new product categories, and an iWatch seems to be a slam dunk.

There's more, though. Longtime fitness partner Nike just dropped
Fuelband manufacturing in favor of working on software only. This is a
big signal that Nike knows the iWatch is on the way this year and is
making a business adjustment for it.

The New Mac Experience This Fall

The PC-decline-defying MacBook Air just got a
teeny processor update. That's not a big deal now -- it just makes room
for a more expensive MacBook Air with Retina Display to have a
profitable spot come fall.

More to the point, the MacBook Pro is ready
for an update, too, but the key action will likely center around the
redesign of Mac OS X. While iOS got its refresh last year, OS X 10.10
is ready for 2014.

One
report now suggests that OS X 10.10 will take center stage at
Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in June.

September is the traditional time of year that
Apple releases new iPads. Bare minimum, we can expect an A8 generation
of Apple's own processors, which should bring better performance and
battery life. I would not be surprised if Apple finally came up with a
new keyboard or keyboard/case option, both because there is an
industry demand for it and because there've been multiple rumblings about it.

Meanwhile, while Microsoft Research has
posted
a video of an augmented mechanical keyboard that can sense
gestures both on and above the device, AppleInsider found an Apple
U.S. patent application for a multifunctional keyboard assembly, too.

Will the keyboard tech show up in Macs this year? In a keyboard
available for pairing with an iPad? If so, this is like extra frosting
on a cake.

What About the Apple TV?

While rumors of a full-size Apple-created HDTV have faded away, pretty
much everyone expects a major Apple TV set-top box update. Not only
did Cook publicly remove the Apple TV from "hobby" status this year in
a quarterly financial report, but Apple also threw down the gauntlet
with its own Amazon Fire TV unit.

The Fire TV lets you search for content with your voice, and the remote control is smart enough
to let you play Android-based games on your HDTV. Plus, Amazon is
actively building its own ecosystem of content and games, even going
so far to develop a game and create a dedicated console-style game
controller.

Will Apple sit on its hands here? Doesn't seem likely.

Apple can jump out ahead with a wicked-fast new processor, Siri
integration, and by opening up the Apple TV to developers for new
apps. If Apple delivers on
its
own gaming controller specifications -- with or without
third-party controllers -- then the company can make a stronger move to
capture game time in the living room.

All of these moves are totally doable for Apple this year. Might we
get a taste at WWDC in June? I hope so, but rumors are trending toward
an OS X fixation. A new Apple TV world in time for fall programming
and holiday sales could technically work better anyway. Wild card?
Some sort of broadcast or cable-TV content deal.

Apple Is 'On the Prowl'

As revealed at Apple's quarterly conference call with investors last
month,
Apple bought 24 companies in 18 months -- several of which are
secret, and therefore important to new products or services.

"Obviously," Cook noted, "We're on the prowl."

What might these new companies offer Apple? If it is attempting to
keep their identities a secret, it's for a good reason -- one that
usually leads to a new product or service.

Speaking of financial reports -- until now, Apple has weathered months
of getting beat up by Wall Street analysts for a slowing rate of
growth in both its iPhone and iPad sales. It has started to manage
Wall Street expectations more proactively by doing things like
increasing its dividend payments and buying back much of its own
stock.

Plus, Apple will issue a 7-for-1 stock split that should drop
the price of a single share to under US$100, making it more accessible
to a broader range of buyers -- and potentially get Apple added to
the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

The point?

As Apple starts releasing a large batch of products and upgrades this
year -- and as relatively new ones like CarPlay start hitting the
streets -- public perception will rocket even higher. What might
that stock split mean then? I don't play on Wall Street, but I have
some guesses.

Any way I look at it -- and this is even if Apple does not release any
new game changer product category that is off the radar -- Apple seems
to be orchestrating a huge 2014.

TechNewsWorld columnist Chris Maxcer has been writing about the tech industry since the birth of the email newsletter, and he still remembers the clacking Mac keyboards from high school -- Apple's seed-planting strategy at work. While he enjoys elegant gear and sublime tech, there's something to be said for turning it all off -- or most of it -- to go outside. To catch him, take a "firstnamelastname" guess at WickedCoolBite.com. You can also connect with him on
Google+.